by Susan Davis, USA TODAY

by Susan Davis, USA TODAY

Barring a last-minute deal, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., made clear he will move forward Tuesday with a controversial maneuver - known as the "nuclear option" - to change the chamber's rules to make it easier to confirm President Obama's executive branch nominees.

"I love the Senate. But right now the Senate is broken and needs to be fixed," Reid said at a Monday address at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, in which he defended his decision to change Senate rules. Senators of both parties have warned the rules change could tear apart the traditions and comity for which the chamber is historically known.

Senators huddled privately late Monday evening in the Old Senate Chamber on the second floor of the U.S. Capitol to see if a bipartisan deal could be reached to head off Reid's plan. But after three hours, the meeting broke up without any resolution.

"There was a very good discussion but at this point we're headed to votes," said. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., who supports changing the rules.

Without a deal, Reid said he would force a vote Tuesday to lower the number of votes needed to end a filibuster of an executive branch nominee from 60 to 51 votes. The rules change could be accomplished with a simple majority vote, and Democrats have 54 votes in the chamber.

"That is not minor. That is a big deal," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a freshman in the chamber, who voiced a commonly held view that changing the filibuster rules on executive branch nominees could lead to changes in how the Senate approves judicial nominees or passes bills.

Reid has pledged not to expand the new rules beyond executive branch nominations. He argues such nominees should be approved by a simple majority. "This does not affect lifetime appointments. It doesn't affect substantive legislation. It allows the president to have his team -- this president and those in the future. And that's the way it should be," he said.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that the president defers to Reid's judgment on procedural matters, but he made clear the administration's frustration with the nomination process. "Republicans have needlessly and systematically obstructed our nominees even though the individuals the president has nominated for these posts have extraordinary credentials and bipartisan support," he said, "So, you know, gridlock is something we've seen in Washington for some time, but the Republicans in the Senate have brought gridlock to new heights, or new lows, depending on how you look at it."

Democrats cite 16 filibusters of Obama nominees as the impetus for the rules change, compared to 20 filibusters on executive nominations for all other presidents prior to Obama. In particular, Democrats are incensed by long-standing Republican holds on nominees to the National Labor Relations Board and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republicans have deep philosophical objections to the work of both agencies.

"We have a situation where Republicans have created gridlock, gridlock, gridlock. And it has consequences. It's not only bad for President Obama, it's bad for the country. The status quo won't work," Reid said.

Republicans counter that only four of Obama's nominees have been blocked, while 1,560 have been approved, and no Cabinet nominees have been defeated.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., strongly opposes the move. He has not laid out how Republicans will respond if the nuclear option is successfully employed, but Senate rules provide lawmakers with a broad array of procedural tactics to delay or obstruct Senate business in committees and on the floor.

This is the second time in nearly a decade the U.S. Senate was brought to the brink on the nuclear option. In 2005, the GOP-controlled Senate almost invoked the nuclear option on judicial nominees under President Bush, but a group of 14 senators reached a deal to avert it at the last minute.

Reid, then the minority leader, was strongly opposed to the nuclear option at that time. "It's a new era," he said, when asked Monday about his change of mind.